Posts from the ‘Events & Exhibits’ Category

Sep 19

The Perks of Being a Wallflower fan: Stephen Chbosky coming to Cal Poly October 5

When library assistant Michele Wyngard (who together with Kristen Thorp is spearheading Kennedy Library’s Banned Books Week), told me that Stephen Chbosky would be visiting Cal Poly, I confess I squealed. I didn’t just squeal, actually. I squealed and jumped and waved my hands about in shock. Read more

Sep 10

Science Cafe is coffee, cookies and communication

What do nanotechnology, bionics, Japanese bookbinding and coffee cupping have in common? They’ve all been featured topics at Cal Poly Science Cafe, an informal speaker series founded at Kennedy Library in 2008 that explores compelling topics with an expert (or two). We’ve expanded the series to include areas outside of science, as a reflection of all that is taught at Cal Poly.

Aug 27

Sullenberger Rose Parade Exhibit now at Cal Poly

We’re excited to share Captain “Sully” and Lorri Sullenberger’s personal memorabilia from when they served as Grand Marshals for the 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade, now on display in Special Collections. It includes photographs, newspaper articles and signed football helmets from Ohio State and the University of Oregon, as well as Special Collections’ own Rose Float records, historic photographs and float concept renderings.

The Sullenbergers approached Cal Poly to share the items, knowing Cal Poly’s annual involvement in the Rose Parade, said curator Catherine Trujillo. “They really treasure these things and so they want to share the experience with as many people as they can,” Trujillo said.

Captain Sully Sullenberger successfully landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River on January 15, 2009. All 155 passengers and crew survived. Since 2009 Sullenberger has authored two best-selling books, “Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters” (2009), and “Making a Difference: Stories of Vision and Courage from America’s Leaders” (2012).

Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and Cal Poly, Pomona, have collaborated annually since 1949 to build a float for the parade.

The exhibit is open to the public 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday in Special Collections (Room 409), through October 19, 2012.

Discover more about Special Collections at Kennedy Library.
Learn more about the Tournament of Roses.
Read Sully Sullenberger’s website for more about him.

- Victoria Billings / KL
Updated 9/13/12

Jun 27

Stewarding worms for Science Cafe

In my garage at home I carefully drilled small holes into a plastic bin that had once held guitar magazines. The worms had arrived at our doorstep earlier that day and I needed to make a home for them to live in until our final Cal Poly Science Cafe event of the 2011-2012 academic year on May 24, 2012.

That was about a week away and I was nervous about keeping the worms happy. I’m not sure why since they’re not that fussy and I’ve successfully kept dogs, cats, fish and plants alive. Nevertheless, I did some worried consulting with Hunter Francis, the Director of the CAFES Center for Sustainability, who assured me the worms would be just fine.

Indeed, they were and looking industrious during Hunter’s portion of Transformed! Closing the Loop with Worms, when he assembled a worm box while explaining the benefits of vermicomposting. Miguel, a Cal Poly student, was the lucky Science Cafe guest who won the worm box at the end of our get together. Miguel was excited to take the vermi-house home, where the worms now live on under his care and food scraps. I asked him to send us an occasional update via Facebook, to let us know the worms are well.

Beyond the small scale, Ralph Crevoshay, President of VermiVision, explained the history of vermicomposting (thanks Charles Darwin) and how it can be successfully used in large scale agricultural endeavors. They’re installing a system right here at Cal Poly, which is available to those affiliated with the university to use as a means to study different phenomenon that happen as part of vermicomposting. Learn more in the video below or by visiting our event page.

We hope to see you this fall for a new year of Science Cafes! Find out when they’re happening by joining us on Facebook.

May 18

How to make a local climate action plan

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:14 — 74.5MB)

Why write a book? There are many reasons. One very good one is when a book does not yet exist for your topic. That’s one reason why Michael Boswell, Adrienne Greve and Tammy Seale set about writing Local Climate Action Planning together. Read more

May 11

Quentin Hardy on what big data means

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:40 — 55.9MB)

Fact as Verb: How data is changing nouns into verbs. That was the title of Quentin Hardy’s talk (listen to the podcast, below) at the opening celebration for Cal Poly’s new Data Studio at Robert E. Kennedy Library. Many of us wondered what that title meant. Read more

May 3

It’s a hit! Pressing Forward exhibit opens

At the outset of planning an event it sometimes feels the day will never come. When it does, it is almost unbelievable. It’s happening! It’s all coming together! And it did, on April 5, when months of collaborative hard work between Special Collections and University Archives with the Book Club of California resulted in a bustling opening celebration for Pressing Forward: The Book Club of California at 100. Highlights included a talk by woodcut artist Tom Killion, the announcement of Book Collection Competition winners and a Science Cafe centered around bookbinding.

You can see the exhibit on the 2nd floor in the Learning Commons, which also includes photographs of members with their personal libraries. Visit our exhibit pages if you’d like to learn more.

Collaborators collaborating
Kennedy Library’s Catherine Trujillo and Peter Runge, along with a group of student collaborators, made it happen. Art and Design student Bryn Hobson had the honor of making the Centennial Keepsake for the event (left). His installation “Flight,” is a magical part of the exhibit that has floating pages ascending to the sky. See more photos of his work at the exhibit on brynhobson.com.

Whenever I spoke to Cate or Peter about the exhibit, I sensed it was a labor of love. At different points they headed to BCC’s hub in San Francisco to get to better know the people and the organization (and possibly the coolest headquarters for bibliophiles ever), worked with local collectors on documenting their libraries and launched a Book Collection Competition. Phew!

Talk by woodcut artist Tom Killion
Tom Killion, whose work has been featured in the BCC gallery among many others, was the featured speaker. He talked us through the stories of his woodblock prints: the inspiration he finds outside in Northern California, who he’s hiking with when he stops to make sketches that inform his woodblocks and how his artistic process works. Here is an excerpt from his talk that focuses on the how-to of Japanese woodblock art:

Winners of the Book Collection Competition
The opening celebration also recognized the winners of the first annual Book Collection Competition! Collected themes included illustrated horse novels of the 1970s and literature of the American West.

Stitched! Science Cafe
Earlier in the day, bookbinder and author of At Home with Handmade Books, Erin Zamrzla, drew a crowd of eager crafters who she led in a hands-on bookbinding experiment. She crafted individual packets of materials for everyone that included a how-to guide (which doubled as a folded envelope), needle, thread and recycled materials that became pages of a book. There was spontaneous applause when everyone realized she had handmade one for each of them!

Here’s a short video overview of Stitched!